Various devices exist to reduce glare from sunlight or other sources of bright light. Reducing the glare can serve to protect the eyes of a user or otherwise improves the vision of the user when looking through an optical element. For example, users can wear sunglasses, shaded goggles, or other type of shaded eyewear. As another example, some motor vehicles are equipped with mirrors that have “dimming” capability to reduce the glare from headlights of other vehicles.
State-of-the-art schemes to reduce the adverse effects of bright sunlight while operating a vehicle or the like often focus on the use of sunglasses or similar eyewear to filter the sunlight. In some cases, an opaque vehicle visor is used to block the most offensive region of incoming sunlight, while in others a filtering visor might be used. In yet other examples, windows in a home might be fitted with shades or curtains to block out sunlight. Like some eyewear, windows have been proposed with photochromic substances that darken in response to certain wavelengths of light. Much like sunglasses, these schemes darken the entire viewable field of the window, and typically cannot be readily controlled.
Unfortunately, these approaches can block or impede visibility of other vehicles, pedestrians, and/or various objects that might pose a danger. Moreover, during nighttime travel, the lights of another vehicle can still pose a problem because sunglasses, visors, and the like are generally only suitable for daytime use. Indeed, existing schemes often can be cumbersome to use, and/or make it difficult to readily and consistently obtain a satisfactory result in certain instances. Accordingly, there remains an ongoing demand for further contributions in these technical arenas.